When you see a bad repair, assume the worst

by Eric GreenbergSeptember 18, 2018

When I first encountered this crown, I incorrectly assumed the past watch repairer was simply sloppy and glued the rotating pinion (the brass part shown) on the crown stem to hold it in-place rather than the typical method of using the pressure of a spring inserted between the crown and a pinion. Functional but sloppy. Instead, I discovered they were a complete botch by gluing a broken stem (bottom two pictures showing the glue snapped.) Who in their right mind would glue a broken stem back together again? A reminder— when you see a bad repair, assume the worst and go from there.